Review: 'United States of Tara' - 'Bryce Will Play': Go fish

First thing's first, "United States of Tara" fans: if you missed the news earlier today, Showtime decided not to order a fourth season (while at the same time renewing "Nurse Jackie"). Go click the link for my thoughts on that - as well as my explanation for why cancellation in and of itself may not be such a bad thing for this show, given where I know the season is going.

But we still have four (very good) episodes to go, and I'm not abandoning ship, not when the really cool stuff is coming. Now that we're close to the finish line and I no longer have to stay mum on a certain major plot development that y'all learned about last week, I've got a more full-length review of "Bryce Will Play" coming up just as soon as I go to a museum dedicated to the manufacturing of baseball bats...

"Mom is crazy, and we treat her like she's an eccentric, and there's a cost." -Marshall

Max finally gets a look at Marshall's movie in "Bryce Will Play," and is shocked to realize exactly what it's about and how it's about that. At the same time, "Bryce Will Play" is the episode that reveals exactly what kind of movie this closing stretch of "Tara" season - if not the entire series - is:

It's a horror movie.

As Marshall says in the line I quoted above, you can shrug off Tara's condition as a quirk - as the show itself sometimes did in its early days - but it does real damage, to Tara, to her family, to everyone who gets close to her. But it's not until she begins transitioning into her new "abuser alter" as Bryce(*) that the horror becomes blatant to Tara, to Charmaine, and especially to converted non-believer Jack Hatteras, who nearly dies as a result of one of Bryce's pranks.

(*) The revelation that made me reluctant to write much these last few weeks, lest I give it away.

I'm reluctant to use this word in a show about mental illness, but it's kind of insane what "Tara" is doing here. To take a suburban domestic comedy and transition it into a weird slasher film pastiche, one with scenes like the death of Gimme that are played for laughs and intense creepiness simultaneously... like, who does that? Who would think to do it?

But it's also brilliant, because as I watched Bryce stab Gimme's poncho over and over with pumpkin on his head, I thought to myself that of course this was the only place for this show to go. Again, Tara is toxic. She is destroying this family. Max's film is in some ways insulting and condescending to Max, but it's also not wrong. Max chose to love Tara and all the crazy, so in some ways it all can wash off his back. But Marshall and Kate chose none of it, and the weight's crushing Marshall, and has already sent Kate off to her semi-glamorous career with SkyKans because at least it takes her away for a few days each week.

And Jack Hatteras, who thought that DID was a lame excuse invented by whiny Americans - who took a perverse pleasure in mocking Tara in front of his whole class, and then a voyeur's view of her condition for the purposes of his book - discovers just how real, and how dangerous, the condition is courtesy of Bryce's special crab soup. I didn't think the show would actually go so dark as to have Bryce actually kill Hatteras - if only because it would take Tara off the table for the rest of a season with a bunch of episodes to go - but that was a spectacularly disturbing scene, particularly once Bryce started coming onto Charmaine even as Jack was in the throes of his allergy attack.

(I also liked the introduction of Robert Picardo as Hatteras' boss, who made it clear just how in over his head Jack was with this little experiment, and how unwise it was of Tara to put her trust in this guy in such an informal setting.)

Charmaine befriending the drunken mom's book club felt a bit tangential, but the rest of "Bryce Will Play" was pretty fantastic. "Tara" may be going out, but it's going out strong.

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

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I thought this was episode was fantastic; and this episode only made my anger towards Showtime grow for cancelling one of my favorite shows of all time. I agree with everything you said, excellent review.

I was blown away by *Bryce and the destruction. I was horrified but brings the show to another level. Marshall's movie hit the nose on the head. I want to view it again.I do want to say that in many families where one is mentally ill-there is a price and it typically effects family and friends. Usually, there are one to two member's that suffer more fallout but it depends on the situation.

And this show will be in the Comedy category for the Emmys again, right? Someone please explain that logic?

I'm sure it's no coincidence that the first three alters that Bryce has "killed" are the three most recent ones to appear, in reverse chronological order (Chicken, Shoshana, and Gimme). Wonder what the internal dialogue between Bryce and Buck is like?

"Max's film is in some ways insulting and condescending to Max, but it's also not wrong. Max chose to love Tara and all the crazy, so in some ways it all can wash off his back. But Marshall and Kate chose none of it"

No, you're right there -- but it's a little too easy to let Kate and Marshall entirely off the hook for their own crap. Tara may be toxic, but I suspect even if she wasn't Max would still be the nicest self-loathing doormat in town, Kate would still be manipulative and outraged that her actions have consequences, and Marshall is pretty toxic in his own way -- as closeted gay teenagers often are.

The kind of closet where it's blindingly obvious to everyone else you're gay as a goose, and your 'girlfriend' is fooling absolutely nobody. Been there, done that, really hurt a good woman who deserved a LOT better.

Which Marshall got over. :) But my point is that while Marshall has a point in his film, he's not that good at turning his perception on himself because co-dependency is a rather complex beast.

How do you figure that Marshall and Kate would be the same people if they hadn't been raised by a dysfunctional Mom and her chief enabler? For good or ill, they've learned almost everything they know about life from these two.

For the record, Marshall has been out from the beginning of the series. Courtney knew that he was gay and so has everyone else with whom he's had contact. Maybe she had some idea that she could change him, but I don't think Marshall shared her illusions. At most, she was a safe asexual haven while he got over the Jason debacle.

Yes, Alan--this stretch is brilliant and it IS a horror movie: specifically, the 2003 horror movie starring John Cusack called "Identity". It truly surprises me that NO ONE (including you, Alan) has commented that this plot development is the EXACT plot-twist of the James Mangold-directed film. I would blame it on the film's lack of viewership/box-office but it grossed 90-million. I guess the "Tara" writers had to come up with (steal) SOMETHING while Mama Diablo was away. I'm just surprised no critic has commented on this BLATANT rip-off. It's true that the "killing off" of alters does occur in real D.I.D. patients, but to use this plot device in such a similar, serial-killer style as the film did, is just...jaw-droppingly LAZY. I loved the first season of this show...it's been an unfocused, downhill spiral ever since.

Seriously, great credit to you for citing IDENTITY (it did do well during the spring 2003 box office, but was overshadowed by BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE and ANGER MANAGEMENT). But having seen that film and started watching this show, I don't feel like Tara's creative staff is ripping off the movie because of the D.I.D. alter-killing spree. It's not news that the alters can't stand each other, after all. The bottom line is both that film and this series work.

i know your Tara reviews have pointed out to us more than a few times that Tara's condition is dangerous and draining to her family and i can see that it is, and while i do feel sorry for Max and Kate and especially Marshall for what they've had to cope with and for their problems always tacking the back burner to Tara's i usually find that i end the episodes just feeling really awful for Tara. Not only was she molested as a child, her MOTHER failed to protect her from it for years and she is still living with the results of the abuse 20 years later. Marshall by no means has an easy life but surely its nothing compared to Tara's childhood?

I agree the episode was wonderful, but one thing niggles slightly - in a house containing a known anaphylactic (Marshall, see ep 1.4), it seems odd that nobody ran for an EpiPen - which logically must be kept handy at all times (after all, Max even had one ready in his work car). Otherwise, fabulous ep. Colette & Izzard continue to amaze onscreen together.

Eddie Izzard was a fantastic guest star this season (I'm kind of assuming here his arc is finished). This show will end after a strong season, and even though the ratings haven't reflected it, I think it's better to go out a creative success than to linger past one's expiration date.